Arminia are latest giant slayers in German cup | OneFootball

In modern football times, national cups represent the only real chance smaller teams have to make waves - and Arminia Bielefeld have certainly made a splash by reaching the German cup final.

Last night, Arminia defeated the current champions Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal to cause quite the upset and reach the final of the competition, where they will face the winner of tonight's clash between Stuttgart and RB Leipzig.

This is only the second time in the 21st century that a team from the third division, or below, has managed to reach the final of the German Cup, although in 2000/01 Union Berlin went one better by reaching the final against all the odds when in the fourth-tier.

On that occasion, Union faced Schalke and ultimately proved no match for their then powerful rival - Schalke securing the trophy with two goals from Jorg Bohme, a former German international.

Returning to Arminia, their 2024/25 run to the final has been simply incredible. A victory over second tier Hannover got the ball rolling in the first round, and then they comprehensively dispatched Union Berlin.

Reaching the round of 16 already constituted a success, but the team from the city of Bielefeld weren't done.

A thrilling victory over Freiburg, currently seventh in the Bundesliga, made Germany sit up and take notice - Arminia's goalkeeper Jonas Kersken making a heroic penalty save as his side ran out 3-1 winners.

In the quarter-finals, it was time for another giant to fall: Werder Bremen, six-time winners of the German Cup. And, obviously, last night saw Michel Kniat's side claim their biggest scalp of all against Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen.

Arminia's standout performer, meanwhile, has been a 20-year-old seemingly destined for bigger things, midfielder Marius Wörl currently with the most goal contributions in the cup, with six in total (three goals and three assists).

Although Bielefield's campaign is certainly one of the more interesting in the competition's history, we'll finish up with a truly remarkable tale from the 1992/93 season.

That year, Hertha Berlin entered two teams (an A and a B side) in the competition with the first string crashing out in the round of 16 to Bayer Leverkusen.

The B team, however, then plying their trade in the third tier, ended up making the final - only to come unstuck against the very same team that had dumped out their A side: Leverkusen!